Is the new normal not to run front parking/marker lights on transit buses?

[belfert]

I see lots of 40 feet transit buses on my commute home.  In the past few weeks I have not seen a single 40 foot Gillig Metro Transit bus running the front parking lights and the side marker lights when the headlights are turned on.  The tail lights and clearance lights are all turned on.  I did see one of the newer Gilligs with the side markers turned on, but not the front parking lights.

Is this normal now not to run side marker lights or front parking lights on transit buses when the headlights are on?  I don't even have a choice in my bus not to run all of the lights.  If I turn on the headlights all of the lights come on.  I did notice the other day a former Metro Transit Gillig Phantom transit bus now run by a contractor for Metro Transit and all of the lights were on.

[TomC]

If a vehicle is over 6ft wide, then it has to have the 5 orange clearance lights in front roof line. The only other lights in front required is the headlights (of course turn indicators when used). Then on the side, middle and back at the top clearance lights. At the back roof line the 5 red clearance lights, a red tail light on each side and license plate light (along with red stop light and either orange or red turn indicator). Laws in every state vary. Good Luck, TomC

[luvrbus]

That is a EU deal that went into affect Jan of 2012 it's here now I saw that in Phoenix on the new buses and asked what their off the stuff has to with us I will never understand  

[Iceni John]

http://icsw.nhtsa.gov/cars/rules/standards/conspicuity/TBMpstr.html

I've also noticed that some transit buses have two extra high-mount brake lights several feet apart, in addition to their regular ones.   According to these Federal standards that's a no-no (there's only mention of having one or more on the centerline), but I don't see these buses being pulled over by over-officious cops.   After my bus is no longer NSBY I'll repurpose the two old red flashers at the back as extra brake lights instead, so now I have a precedent for doing so.   (It still may not be 100% legal, but if it improves safety a cop would have to be very hardnosed to make a big deal about it.)

John     

[belfert]

So, I guess front parking lights aren't required.  Still, the side markers are required, but only one of the newer transits I have seen recently have been running the side marker lights.  They have them, but they aren't turned on.  I believe the MCI D4500s they run on suburban routes still have all the lights.

I find it difficult at night to ascertain where an oncoming vehicle is in its lane if there are no parking lights to mark the width of the vehicle.

[wg4t50]

When in Cario Egypt about 20 yrs ago, my driver only used parking lighrts at night, no head lights, claiming they were hard on the battery, so no one there use head lights but they sure love to use the horn a lot along with hand gestures, glad he was also my body guard, that is not a warm fuzzy normal place. 
Dave M

[Jon]

Are they daytime running lights, and the driver has opted to not turn on the lights?

That is what will happen because the DRLs do not run the other lights and if the driver doesn't turn on the lights when it gets dark the clearance lights won't come on. Of course he won't have his dash gauge lights either, but apparently they aren't critical.

[belfert]

I wasn't always able to see the rear of the bus, but when I did the rear tail lights always seemed to be on.  I'm not sure if the new buses have DRLs, or if there is a policy of running headlights all the time.

[LuckyChow]

Interesting comments about this here.  I'm a transit administrator, but we haven't received any official notifications about this subject.  We don't have any "new" stock at the moment, as our newest buses are 2010 models.  We're about to order 20 new ones though, so I'll keep an eye out for this trend.  Currently all our buses have the traditional transit style switch (even the MCI's) which only has "off, run, run with lights, parking lights only" selections on the dial.  In regards to lighting, I haven't seen any options that would allow us to order any other "style" of lighting.  The manufacturers keep up with the federal requirements and only offer us options that would comply.  I have a Gillig Phantom of my own and it has the traditional style switch mentioned above. 

DH

[gus]

Older GMs don't even have front parking lights!